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Opinion

Just when you thought you had the holidays behind you! Having survived the sometimes frantic activities and financial expenses of three major holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years; you probably feel like you can begin to breathe calmly for a change. Not so fast! The game of life isn’t going to let us off the hook that easily. So, take a big deep breath and steel yourself for Feb. 14, otherwise known as Valentine’s Day in western cultures.

The General Assembly returns to the Capitol this week, kicking off another legislative session.

As is always the case during odd-numbered years, the House and Senate are scheduled to meet for 30 working days, with the first four set aside to elect leaders of both chambers and establish committee assignments for the next two years. We will then return in early February to begin voting on bills, wrapping up our work by the end of March.

When I was growing up, church offering envelopes had check-off boxes. One of them was “Daily Bible Reading.” My generation was encouraged to do it all: check all the boxes, and score 100 percent for the week.
I was normally a 100 percent guy each week. I may have struggled with some of those boxes, but I got the Bible reading done. Though I confess that on some days I was so busy that the best I could do was a hurried glance, a fast read... but better fast than not at all, right?

If I ever found myself foolish enough to think I would stick with a resolution for a year, I would steal my dogs’ wisdom.

We have a weimaraner and labrador mixed dog her name is Tilly and a beagle mixed with what we think is a blue healer named Henry. Henry looks very much like Snoopy and makes similar sounds as the Peanuts character with a custom for snorting when you directly ask him questions.

These two beasts are mentally superior and I have a lot to learn from them.

Here we go. Another year is about to begin and it’s time to decide if we are going to commit ourselves to a particular course of action or not. Do we really want to be bothered with making New Year’s Resolutions yet again? How about the old ones? Could we just recycle them? Or maybe, we could just take one year off without doing any new resolutions.

With another Christmas behind us and a new year fast approaching, I thought I might share my sports wish list for 2013.

1. A Warrior-Wildcat district final. This season it may be more likely than at any time in recent memory. The Warriors are rolling right now, while the Wildcats are struggling, but the young Wildcats will improve as the season goes on and I believe they will be playing their best ball down the stretch when it counts the most.

One story involved a woman, Ms. Anna Marie Davis, who at 103 years old still had a lucid mind and sharp memory. I interviewed her while working as the roving reporter for Landmark Community Newspaper in Bardstown. She turned 103 last year and had a sister who lived to 105.

It’s that time of year, again: the time of year when young children begin to gather information and plague everyone with questions. Is there really a Santa Claus? Does Santa really live at North Pole? Is there really a Santa Claus house? These questions and more seem to occupy their little minds from just after Thanksgiving all the way to Christmas morning.

The criticism of another’s position, the constant heated debate between family members filled with a heavy dose of vituperation has since dwindled into anemic soliloquies where no one listens but the speaker.

Don’t worry I ‘m not going to rant about my political position nor demand any reader to understand what I think sound public policy should look like.

Like many of the Henry County Middle School students who walked around the edge of the first lagoon at the Waste Water Treatment Plant in New Castle on Halloween, there are a few things I don’t think I’ll ever forget.

The tomato plants growing up through the rocks that line the lagoon’s edge is one indelible image.

The veritable sea of white, green, purple, blue and pink plastic tampon applicators, littered along the rocks is another. In one photograph I took, I counted more than 50. It was a little disturbing and unforgettable.

How do they do it?! These tiny little creatures we call children always manage to steal the show. Holidays are no exception. Two years ago, while visiting my oldest brother and his family in Florida for Thanksgiving; I watched in wonderment as my brother’s only grandchild stole the show and everyone’s heart.

“Thank you for your service.” Most vets hear that almost every day on television, directed toward someone on camera. Many others hear from someone on first meeting, or from a relative, friend, or even a co-worker.

The word service has many meanings. A lot of vets have manned duty stations during peacetime… quietly doing hum-drum chores, standing guard and going on liberty. (Yes, I was a sailor.)

As election day — Tuesday, Nov. 6 — nears, the voters of Henry County will help decide who will represent them as their state representative in State House District 47 for the next two years. Currently we have a person who has served us as an outstanding legislator since 2003. That person is Rick Rand, someone who has always been there for the citizens of Henry County.

At that time, it consisted mainly of prank calls, hallway teasing and on one occasion a particularly clever stunt during PE in which one of the boys in my class put a frog in my pocket without me knowing. The ensuing shriek, I have no doubt, was quality entertainment for him.

The prank calls at home were particularly cruel. The “surprise gifts” in my backpack were quite annoying.

The season for moose and caribou hunting in the Interior of Alaska was about to end. On Wednesday night, neither my husband, Frank, nor I had a moose. I suggested we try hunting for caribou Thursday - something we had not yet tried. We secured the necessary permits and loaded our gear. We were all smiles and optimistic about our new venture.

I
have recently started on another bit of history in the county that continues to interest me: the Civil War. The farther I look into the history of the county the more intriguing history I find.
In last week’s edition, I wrote about Capt. I. N. Johnston of Pleasureville. Johnston was one of the officers who was instrumental in carrying out the great escape from Libby Prison. More than 100 people escaped through a tunnel dug in the company of rats that regularly climbed over the freedom seekers as they worked in shifts digging.

Eminence Independent School District recently received an award along with three other school districts for their academic success by the Bluegrass Institute as ‘Diamonds in the Rough’. Any school district that is recognized for their work and success given the lack of state and federal funding should be congratulated.

EIS and Henry County both should be commended for what they have done in creating opportunity for the students in the county.